The third Sec. of the AFC Champions League 2018 (ACL) group stage took place, and Kashiwa Reysol in Group E got their first win in this year’s competition beating Kitchee (Hong Kong) 1-0. Cerezo Osaka in Group G was defeated by Buriram United (Thailand) 0-2 away from home. This was Cerezo’s first defeat of this competition.

After a loss and a draw in their first two Sec. Kashiwa were in a must win situation in order to keep their hopes alive to get through the group stage. However, they were forced to rotate their squad considering the tight schedule with the J. League. Seven players were swapped from their previous league match held on Friday 2 March, as forwards Cristiano, ITO Junya, and midfielder ESAKA Ataru started on the bench.

From the start of the match Kashiwa controlled the game, as midfielder KIM BoKyung played a key role in keeping possession and creating chances. In the 29th minute, Kim assisted forward Ramon Lopes’s attempt at goal, but the shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

Lopes took another shot at goal in the 34th minute, sneaking through the space between the opponent’s defenders, but the shot was off target. Lacking quality in their final passes and shots, Kashiwa struggled to break through the persistent defence of the Hong Kong side. The first half would end scoreless.

Playing in their first ACL, Kitchee elected to start forward Diego Forlan, a former Uruguay National Team player and a former member of Cerezo Osaka. Although Kitchee created very few opportunities, they came close to scoring in those occasions.

In the 16th minute, Kashiwa’s defence mishandled a long ball, allowing Kitchee’s midfielder Fernando to take advantage of the situation and fire a shot. The ball would get through Kashiwa’s goalkeeper NAKAMURA Kosuke, but defender NAKATANI Shinnosuke came to the rescue to save the goal. In the 41st minute, Forlan collected a clear ball from the Kashiwa side before ripping a shot with his left foot, but his shot was off target.

The second half saw Kashiwa’s midfielder NAKAGAWA Hiroto playing a central midfield role, switching from his original winger position. In the 48th minute, Lopes made a cut into the centre from the right side before taking a mid-range shot, threatening the opponent’s goal.

Kashiwa brought on Ito in the 56th minute, and Cristiano in the 61st minute. The two substitutes brought pace to the Kashiwa offence, creating attacking threats by making runs behind the Kitchee defence.

The deadlock was broken in the 66th minute, as Ito got to the end of a cross delivered by defender KAMEKAWA Masashi, scoring the opener with his right foot.

Desperate to earn points, Kitchee created chances in the second half. In the 58th minute Fernando took a shot from the left side, but Nakamura blocked it. In the 78th minute, forward Sandro who came in as a substitute, penetrated the left flank, giving midfielder Krisztián Vadócz an opportunity to take a shot, but his attempt could not find the net of Kashiwa’s goal.

In the 81st minute, Kashiwa brought on Esaka for Kim. Two minutes later, Cristiano received a pass from Lopes and took a shot from close range, but his attempt was denied by Kitchee’s goalkeeper.

In their previous matches against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (Korea Republic) and Tianjin Quanjian (China), Kashiwa conceded late to drop points they could have earned, but in this match, they kept a clean sheet to secure the 1-0 victory and their much-needed three points.

In the other match of Group E, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors bested Tianjin Quanjian 6-3 at home, keeping their top-position with three-consecutive wins. Tianjin Quanjian and Kashiwa both follow the Korean team with four points, while Kitchee remain in the bottom position with three-consecutive defeats.

C Osaka loses in an away game

Cerezo Osaka who had kept the top position with a win and a draw, tried to add more points to their tally in Thailand, but was defeated by the Thai league champion.

Swapping all 11 players from their previous league match held on Firnday 2 March, Cerezo Osaka started players such as forward Yang Dong Hyun, midfielder TANAKA Atomu, and defender TANAKA Yusuke. However, they would concede early in the match, as they allowed the opponent’s defender Andrés Túñez to score the opener off of a corner kick.

Cerezo sought for opportunities to equalise the match in the second half, but conversely gave up another goal when Buriram’s forward Edgar connected with a cross in the 54th minute.

Cerezo made a substitution to bring in defender KATAYAMA Eiichi for defender MONIWA Teruyuki right after giving up the second goal. In the 76th minute, Buriam’s midfielder Jakkaphan Kaewprom was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the match, giving Cerezo a major advantage.

In efforts to get back into the game, Cerezo Osaka’s Coach Jong-Hwan Yoon substituted defender FUNAKI Kakeru in place for defender SAKEMOTO Noriyuki in the 78th minute, and forward ANDO Mizuki to replace forward YAMADA Hiroto in the 85th minute. However, their efforts came short from scoring a goal, leading to a 0-2 defeat.

In the same group, Guangzhou Evergrande (China) got their first win by beating Jeju United (Korea Republic) 5-3 at home, bringing their tally up to a group leading five points. After the loss, Cerezo Osaka now shares the same points with Buriram at four points but trails the Thailand side by goal difference. Jeju drops from second place to the bottom of the group with their three points.

On Wednesday 7 March, Kawasaki Frontale of Group F will face Melbourne Victory (Australia) at home, while Kashima Antlers of Group H will play against Sydney FC (Australia) away from home.

Coaches' and Players' Comments

SHIMOTAIRA Takahiro, Coach (Kashiwa Reysol)
We could have scored more goals, but our main focus was to earn three points, so we just wanted to win regardless of how we play the game. Having said that, we are happy we got what we wanted. We had players who played for the first time, and players who hasn’t played in a while, so we weren’t in a good sync, but this match gave us an opportunity to improve our overall team strength. We will stay positive and work towards our next match.

MF OTANI Hidekazu (Kashiwa Reysol)
I am so relieved to get our first win today. If we have drawn or lost the match today, it would have made it awfully difficult for us to get through the group stage, so we’re happy with the result. However, we still have many things to improve. We lacked horizontal ball movements to create chances, and with many players starting for the first time, we didn’t work well as a team. I feel like we should have won with multiple goals today, but this win gives us hope to move forward.

FW ITO Junya (Kashiwa Reysol)
I was committed to score, if I was given the opportunity. We had to win today in order to keep our hopes alive to advance to the next stage, so this was a major win for us. We’ll prepare well for our match next week.

Chu Chi Kwong, Coach (Kitchee)
Kashiwa is a very good team and they came out applying strong pressure. And our players showed great discipline against the fast-paced attacks displayed by Kashiwa. However, giving up one mistake turned out to be crucial, and we tried leveling the match by subbing out Forlan. The result was not something we desired, but our team will get better as we proceed forward.

Tournament Period：30 January 2018 (Tue.) ～ 10 November 2018 (Sat.)

Tournament Information